Worcester County man feeds hundreds of families in need

SPENCER, Mass. — As Eric LaFleche packs his pick-up truck full of groceries, he’s on a one-man mission in the fight against hunger. “15-and-a-half tons of food so far, roughly. Yeah, it’s overwhelming sometimes,” he said.

Overwhelming because the need for food is so great. The Spencer man started buying groceries and delivering them to families in need in Worcester County in 2020. His goal was to help five families and then 10 by the end of 2021. But the pandemic has impacted so many families, Eric is up to 370 deliveries and counting.

“I’ve been in situations where I’ve been in conversation with people who say my kids are doing great. We’re feeding our kids, but my husband and I haven’t eaten in four days or something like that. It’s just alarming, you know,” LaFleche said.

For the first few months, Eric paid for most of the groceries out of his own pocket. But over the summer he launched a non-profit called, The Arrow Charity Home | BuyingFood.

Each delivery is usually 4-to-6 days worth of meat, a week of dry goods, pasta, soups, fresh fruits, and veggies. Plus, milk, bread, butter, and oil. LaFleche doesn’t deliver junk food or soda.

“Now I’m doing shampoo, body washes, soap, razors, toothbrush, and toothpaste all the way down to toilet tissue and laundry detergent. It’s increased to basically to a fully-encompassing delivery,” he said.

LaFleche does deliver to a few families in a rotation, but the vast majority are first-time recipients. He also delivers to families in need as far away as California through online shopping apps. LaFleche said he couldn’t do it without donors. He said 30 people are multi-donors and there are more than 100 who have donated.

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